Chapter 29: : Chapter 28

We’ve been home from the hospital for a few days now, and I still have this constant urge to pinch myself just to be sure I’m not dreaming.

I just can’t believe this is my life. That this little angel baby is truly mine .

He’s got the most perfect little head full of blonde fuzz, and Lyle definitely manifested those dimples. His lips are so tiny and cute. And his long, golden lashes just melt this momma’s heart.

Judd is everything I never knew I needed, especially not at the age of twenty-one.

I know it’s early yet, and I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch. But he’s such a baby. He’s just the sweetest little lovebug who wants to be in our arms at all times. And believe me, his daddy and I are more than happy to indulge him.

Our only argument these days is over whose turn it is to hold him. And when losing means I get to watch the two of them together? Well, it doesn’t feel much like much of a loss at all.

I didn’t think it was possible to love Lyle more than I already did—until I saw his heart melt for that baby. From the moment he proposed, there’s never been an ounce of hesitation. He made the choice to step in and be a father to my son, and he’s never looked back.

He didn’t have to do any of this…

.

He this life with us. And I’ll never stop counting my lucky stars that he landed outside my bridal suite that fateful day.

A text alert sounds on my phone, pulling me from my thoughts.

Raven: Where the hell are you?

Me: Uhh…the bathroom. Just got out of the shower. Why?

Raven: Come to the living room and be quiet.

I pad through the house quietly, as instructed, to find Raven snapping photos of my husband and child asleep on the couch.

“Did you do this?” I ask when I notice their matching white fluffy robes and the towels wrapped around their heads like they’re at the spa. Where do you even find head wraps that tiny?

Raven shakes her head.

“The cucumbers?” I whisper when I note the slices resting on their eyelids.

“Nope.” Her head shakes again. “I just walked in.”

I too take out my phone and start snapping pictures of my bougee-ass husband and his sidekick. Only Lyle would think to pamper a newborn this way. “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Ugh, right?” Raven groans. “My ovaries did not need to witness this.”

I snort. “Just give that man a baby already.”

Her lip curls in disgust. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to fuck up my vagina just yet.”

I give her a death stare. “Probably not the right thing to say to the one-week post-partem chick who’s still waiting for hers to bounce back.”

“Yeah…I’m holding out to see yours in a few weeks before making my final decision on this whole poppin’ a kid out idea.” She laughs softly. “If that thing resembles anything that even remotely looks like a vagina…I’ll consider it.”

“What the hell makes you think I’m just gonna show you my vag—”

The door swings open, stopping me mid-sentence.

“Oh, hi, Anika…” I say when she just barges right on in. Swear to God, no one around here knocks.

“Cute,” she motions to my guys before having a seat beside them and tapping my husband on the leg. “Wake up, sunshine.”

As soon as Lyle sits up, Raven confiscates the baby, careful not to wake him or disturb his eye veggies. “Looks like y’all have some important business to discuss.” She adjusts the front of his little robe, wrapping him tighter. “I’ll just take this off your hands.” She moseys over to the armchair across the room to get her baby fix and the tea all at once.

“What now?” I ask when I notice the cursed iPad resting on Anika’s lap. I really hoped I’d seen the last of that thing when she smashed it to smithereens, but no such luck. She just went out and got a new one.

Annie pats the couch on her other side, inviting me to have a seat. “I fucking hate people,” she says before flipping the tablet over to TMD’s home page. “I’m really sorry, guys, but we have to deal with this.”

I open my mouth to speak but no sound comes out. Just tears.

.

It was too good to be true. This fairy tale life I’ve been living is imploding around me, and I haven’t the slightest idea how to stop it. I feel frozen in this moment—trapped in an absolute nightmare.

“Oh, Sammi,” Anika wraps an arm around me, pulling me close, but the sweet gesture only makes me cry harder. “It’s going to be okay.”

I bring a hand to my trembling lips and shake my head, because this can’t be happening. Not to my perfect little family—to my husband and my sweet baby. They don’t deserve this.

“That fucking snake.” Lyle grips the pad still clutched in his hands so tightly the case begins to crack. “He told her to get rid of ,” he grits, nostrils flaring. “It!” he repeats louder. “I was there. I heard him.”

Anika nods, her face more broken than I’ve ever seen. “I believe you.” She takes the tablet from his hand and returns it to her bag. “But you know as well as I do that it’s your word against his.”

My husband gets up from the couch and starts pacing back and forth across the room, silently stewing in his anger.

The girls and I watch with bated breath for the explosion that seems inevitable. I’m afraid to say or do the wrong thing. Not out of fear that he’d hurt me, but that I might unintentionally wound him further.

He pauses near the front door, clenching and unclenching his fists before rearing back and punching a hole through the wall. Then he falls to his knees with an anguished cry that pierces straight to my soul.

I rush to his side with a torrent of tears pouring down my face. “I’m sorry,” I say, wrapping him in my arms and holding his head to my chest. I can hardly breathe, knowing he’s in so much pain. Even worse is that, in a roundabout way, I’m to blame. “I’m so sorry.”

I say it over and over, rocking with him on that floor until I feel his body begin to relax. His heart is beating so hard, and the veins in his arms are bulging, pumped full of adrenaline.

“It’s not your fault.” He kisses my head then pulls me into his lap, burying his lips in my hair. His knuckles glide along my arm in a soothing gesture that seems to have a calming effect on us both.

He looks up at Anika. “What do we do?”

“The only thing we can do.” She frowns. “We order the test.”

Lyle’s grip tightens, but otherwise he has no outward reaction. “Then what?”

“If it’s negative, we carry on like this never happened. The results will be enough to appease your fans.”

“And if he’s the father?”

Hearing him refer to anyone else as Judd’s father churns my stomach. That title belongs to one man, and it sure as shit isn’t Trent Thomas.

“Then we fight him in court. Get as much physical custody as we can. The fact that you live in different states, and you and Sammi being married, should help with that.” She runs a hand through her long hair. “The courts like to see children in stable homes. Judd has that here with the two of you.”

“That piece of shit is only after his money,” Raven hisses quietly, so she won’t wake the baby. “This is such bullshit.”

“How soon can we get the test?” I ask, still trying to stifle my sobs. I’ve got to pull myself together and be strong for my husband.

This is a crushing blow to both of us, but I’m not the one having my role in our child’s life threatened. However this test turns out, I’ll still be mom. But there’s a real possibility he could be demoted from dad to stepdad. And while I know a title won’t change the way he feels about Judd, it’s still a loss—one he’s already grieving the possibility of.

“Say the word and I’ll get the ball rolling today. I’m sure Trent is eager to see if he’s hit the jackpot. I can’t imagine he’d be opposed to providing a sample as soon as possible.”

“Do it,” Lyle says, grinding his molars. “And expedite it,” he clips. “Let’s figure out what the hell we’re dealing with here.”

“On it,” she says, rising to her feet. Anika makes it halfway to the door before stopping and turning back toward us where we’re still huddled on the floor. “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling…and I am shit with knowing what to say in situations like this.” She shakes her head, as if she can’t believe she’s going to even attempt it. “But Lyle, you are that baby’s dad, no matter what any stupid test says.”

He sucks his tongue to his teeth and nods.

“You chose him for the right reasons,” she says. “DNA can’t take that away.”

“She’s right.” I say, pressing a kiss to the bend of his neck. “Trent can’t compete with what’s in here.” I squeeze the hand that’s resting over his heart into a fist. “Love will win out in the end…it has to.”

“I’ll be in touch.” Anika starts back for the door. “Gonna go work some magic and see if we can have those results in the next day or two.”

Once Anika’s gone, Lyle gets up from the floor, careful not to flash Raven with his robe. He blows out a long breath and then helps me to my feet. “I’m gonna go put some clothes on.”

I nod, smoothing a hand down his back. “Okay.”

He aims a snarky finger at Raven, but his voice is so heavy. “Then I’m gonna come hold my son.”

Tears well in my eyes. He’s clearly trying to lighten the mood, but I’m just so relieved to hear those words from his lips. Judd is his, in every way that matters. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that he knows no matter what those results show, his role in our son’s life will not be diminished.

Raven smiles. “You got it, Daddy.”